Stone the crows! Cigarette break birds stun tourists

A British couple on holiday could not believe their eyes when they spotted a

crow flying past carrying a packet of cigarettes.

Two crows with a packet of cigarettes in the Maldives

Tony and Judie Ellis, from Crowborough, (we’re not joking) Sussex, watched in amazement as the crow landed on the roof of a water villa next to theirs and calmly began extracting the cigarettes from the packet.

As Judie, 53, rushed to get her camera to record the scene on the Maldives two more crows arrived for a fag break and picked up the cigarettes in their beaks.

Judie said: ‘The crow which flew past with the cigarettes seemed to be dishing them out to the others.

‘It was taking the cigarettes out of the packet and putting them on the roo of the water villa. Then the other crows were picking them up. It was amazing that they seemed to have them in their beaks the right way round.’

The couple, who work as toy inventors, were told after the incident that crows can sometimes be a bit of a nuisance on the islands. They were told that another holidaymaker had a sandwich stolen by a cheeky crow.

Judie said: ‘We have been to the Maldives four times before but never seen any sort of crow behaviour like that. I was lucky to be able to record this on my camera.’